Refrigerator cabinet construction



Aug. 36, 1966 w, P CRQWE 3,269,789

REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed June 21, 1965 F'EGJ r INVENTOR.lO WILUAM P. CROWE HKS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,269,789REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION William P. Crowe, Louisville, Ky.,assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York FiledJune 21, 1965, Ser. No. 465,264 4 Claims. (Cl. 312--229) The presentinvention relates to refrigerator cabinets and the like and is moreparticularly concerned with a cabinet construction designed to minimizeor eliminate the flow of excess defrost water or cleaning water into theinsulated spaces within the cabinet.

Refrigerator cabinets of the household type include at least one linerdefining a storage compartment within the cabinet and an outer shellspaced and insulated from the liner. The edges of the liner and shellsurrounding the access opening to the compartment are normally spacedfrom one another and the intervening space is bridged by means of abreaker strip composed of a plastic or other material having a low heatconductivity and overlying the forward edges of the liner and shell.Regardless of the type of insulation material used, the presence ofwater therein seriously reduces the insulating value thereof and mayactually damage the insulation itself.

Occasionally moisture may get into the insulated space between the linerand the outer shell of a refrigerator as a result of excessive watercollecting on the bottom of the liner. The excess overflows the forwardedge of the liner and passes between the edge of the liner and thebreaker strip into the insulation. This water may result from anexcessive accumulation of defrost water within the liner resulting froma stoppage of the drain normally provided for disposing of this defrostwater or it may result from excessive cleaning water collecting on thebottom wall of the liner during cleaning of the interior thereof.

A primary object of the present invention is to provlde a refrigeratorcabinet construction in which excessive water overflowing the forwardedge of the liner bottom wall is prevented from accumulating within theinsulated space below that wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator including aliner, a shell spaced from the liner and new and improved breaker stripbridging the space between the bottom edges of the liner and shell anddesigned to collect and dispose of any excessive water overflowing theforward edge of the liner bottom wall.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds and the features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In accordance withthe illustrated embodiment of the present invention,there is provided a household refrigerator including a liner having abottom wall and an outer .shell spaced from the liner and including aforward edge below and spaced from the lower forward edge of the liner.In order to prevent excessive water overflowing the forward edge of theliner from entering the insulated space below the liner, there isprovided a novel breaker strip which includes an upper portion overlyingthe top surface of the forward edge of the liner bottom wall and a lowerportion overlying the front surface of the forward edge of the shell. Inorder to prevent excessive water from overflowing the forward edge ofthe liner and entering the insulation disposed below the liner andaccumulating therein, the breaker strip includes a portion extendingrearwardly therefrom into the space between the liner and shell belowthe liner edge to form a trough for collecting such water and meanscomprising at least one opening in the breaker strip from permitting theflow of the collected water from the trough onto the front surface3,269,789 Patented August 30, 1966 of the breaker strip from which itwill nomally flow onto the floor in front of the refrigerator cabinet.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a somewhat schematic vertical side sectional view of arefrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view partly in section of the cabinet of FIGURE 1;and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the cabinet ofFIGURE 1 illustrating the detailed construction of the breaker stripcomponent of the present invention.

With reference to the drawing, there is shown a refrigerator cabinetincluding an outer shell 1 having an access opening at the front thereofand a door 2 for closing the access opening. A liner 3 defining astorage compartment 4 and having an access opening concentric with theaccess opening to the shell is positioned within the shell 1 and theliner and shell are maintained in fixed spaced relationship by suitablesupporting means (not shown). The space between the outer shell 1 andthe inner liner 3 are filled with suitable heat insulating material 4which completely surrounds the liner 3.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, there is also providedan evaporator 5 in the upper portion of the compartment 4 formaintaining that compartment at above freezing storage temperatures.Defrost water periodically draining from the evaporator 5 is collectedby means of a trough 6 from which it flows downwardly along a verticalwall or walls of the liner 3 to the bottom a wall 7 which is preferablyslightly concave or dish-shaped and so constructed that this defrostwater will flow into and through a drain 8 extending through the bottomwall 7 of the liner and the bottom wall 10 of the outer shell and into adrain pan 14 within the machinery compartment 15 at the bottom of thecabinet.

Suitable breaker strip means generally indicated by the numeral 16bridges the gaps between the forward edges of the liner surrounding theaccess opening thereto and the edges of the shell defining the accessopening therein. In accordance with the usual practice, the breakerstrip means is composed ofa plastic or other material having low heatconductivity properties. For appearance reasons the breaker strip meansnormally overlies the inner sur-' faces of the liner and the frontsurfaces of the shell.

In accordance with the present invention, the lower breaker strip 21bridging the space between the forward edge 22'of the liner bot-tom Wall7 and the face flange 23 forming the bottom edge of the access openingin the outer shell 1 is so constructed that any excess water overflowingthe forward edge 22 of the bottom liner wall 7 and entering the spacebetween the bottom wall 7 of the liner and the bottom wall 10 of theshell between the forward edge 22 of the liner bottom wall and theadjacent edge portion 26 of the breaker strip 21 will be collected anddischarged in front of the cabinet so that it cannot collect in theinsulated space below the liner.

To this end, as is shown more clearly in FIGURE 3 of the drawing, thelower breaker strip 21 includes a flange 28 extending rearwardly fromthe rear surface thereof and beneath the forward edge 22 of the linerbottom wall 7 a distance such that any moisture overflowing the forwardedge of the bottom wall 7 and entering the space between the liner andshell will flow downwardly onto the flange 28. This flange 28 is slopedforwardly and forms a trough for collecting such water and preventing itfrom reaching the insulating material 4. By means of one or moreopenings 30 provided in the breaker strip 21 and communicating with thetrough defined by the rearwardly extending flange 28 permit, thiscollected moisture can pass through the openings and onto theintermediate section 31 of the breaker strip from which it flows overthe forward or lower edge 32 and downwardly along the lower face of thecabinet defined by the shell flange 23.

As this water will normally flow onto the floor in front of the cabinetWhere it will be readily observable, its presence there will warn theuser of the collection of excessive Water on the bottom wall 7 of theliner in the event that this collection has resulted from a clogging orstoppage of drain 8 so that steps may be taken to open the drain 8 andrestore the cabinet water disposal system to its normal opera-tingcondition. Regardless of whether the moisture results from collection ofan excessive amount of defrost water on the bottom wall 7 of the lineror from the use of excessive cleaning water during cleaning of theinterior surface of the liner 3, the construction of the lower breakerstrip 21 prevents any overflow from accumulating Within the insulatedspace below the liner where its continued accumulation may adverselyaffect the insulating value of the insulation in this area or mayactually damage the insulating material itself.

While there has been shown and described a specific embodiment of thepresent invention it will be understood that it is not limited theretoand is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes andmodifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wallhaving a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge belowand spaced from said liner forward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including anupper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of saidbottom Wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of theforward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a flange portion extending rearwardlytherefrom into the space between said liner bottom wall and outer shelland forming a trough for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edgeof said liner beneath said upper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including means for discharging the liquid collectedby said trough onto the front surface of said breaker strip.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wallhaving a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge belowand spaced from said liner forward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including anupper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of saidbottom wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of theforward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a means integral with the rear surfacethereof for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edge of said linerbeneath said upper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including means for discharging the collected liquidonto the front surface of said breaker stri 3. A fefrigerator cabinetcomprising a liner including a bottom wall having a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge belowand spaced from said liner for ward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including anupper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of saidbottom wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of theforward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a sloping flange portion extendingrearwardly from the rear surface of said breaker strip beneath saidliner forward edge and into the space between the liner and outer shelland forming a trough for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edgeof said liner,

said breaker strip including an opening therein above said flangeportion for permitting the flow of collected liquid from said troughonto the front surface of said breaker strip.

4. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wallhaving a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge belowand spaced from said liner forward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including anupper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of saidbottom wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of the forward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a flange portion extending rearwardly andupwardly from an intermediate portion of said breaker strip and into thespace between said liner and outer shell to form a trough for collectingany liquid flowing over the forward edge of said liner and beneath saidupper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including an opening therein for permitting the flowof collected liquid from said trough onto the front surface of saidbreaker strip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1955 Jacobs62-250 3/1956 Saunders 62288

1. A REFRIGERATOR CABINET COMPRISING A LINER INCLUDING A BOTTOM WALLHAVING A FORWARD EDGE, AN OUTER SHELL SPACED FROM SAID INNER ANDINCLUDING A FORWARD EDGE BELOW AND SPACED FROM SAID LINER FORWARD EDGE,A BREAKER STRIP BRIDGING THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID EDGES AND INCLUDING ANUPPER PORTION OVERLYING THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID FORWARD EDGE OF SAIDBOTTOM WALL AND A LOWER PORTION OVERLYING THE FRONT SURFACE OF THEFORWARD EDGE OF SAID SHELL, SAID BREAKER STRIP INCLUDING A FLANGEPORTION EXTENDING REARWARDLY THEREFROM INTO THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID LINERBOTTOM WALL AND OUTER SHELL AND FORMING A TROUGH FOR COLLECTING LIQUIDOVERFLOWING THE FORWARD EDGE OF SAID LINER BENEATH SAID UPPER PORTION OFSAID BREAKER STRIP, SAID BREAKER STRIP INCLUDING MEANS FOR DISCHARGINGTHE LIQUID COLLECTED BY SAID TROUGH ONTO THE FRONT SURFACE OF SAIDBREAKER STRIP.